March 2015

The Foreign Service Journal covers foreign affairs from an insider's perspective, providing thought-provoking articles on international issues, the practice of diplomacy and the U.S. Foreign Service. Including the AFSA News section, The Journal is published monthly (January-February and July-August issues combined) by the American Foreign Service Association.

The March issue focuses on Iran and how lessons of the past may inform the future of diplomatic relations. Recently retired FSO Jillian Burns assesses the Iran Watcher Program, a decade-old program which provides critical information for current nuclear negotiations. Former Iran hostage Ambassador John Limbert shares his own experience and historical lessons to explain what it will take for Washington to “get it right” if U.S. diplomats return to Tehran. Michael Metrinko, retired Foreign Service officer and former Iran hostage, recounts his story of 14 months of imprisonment, most of it spent in solitary confinement.

Elsewhere in the issue, Ambassador Willard DePree reflects on critical moments of diplomacy with Mozambique that had clear and measureable results. Also included is a tongue-in-cheek examination of the interesting—albeit short—Foreign Service career of former New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia from author and former FSO Luciano Mangiafico.